"What happened here?"
Chen Yi's eyes trembled as he surveyed the charred ground and devastation. The human shapes in the ruins, blackened like charcoal, weighed especially heavily on him.
"Who committed such a horrifying atrocity? Bandits? Or demons?"
Over more than a decade on the road, he had seen many demons, but he had seen far more people. People of every kind, demons of every stripe—yet people always outnumbered demons. Now, faced with this tragedy and its perpetrator, he could no longer tell whether the culprit was human or demon.
"Human or demon, why not kill them all? Wouldn't that feel good?"
Mind Monkey brought his Escape Light down and landed. He surveyed the scene, then glanced at the flames soaring in the distance. Sensing the restrained, unspent force lurking within them, he narrowed his eyes and sneered. "Surely you won't stop me this time?"
Chen Yi drew his gaze back and took a deep breath. "Anyone who commits such evil is a demon, human or not. They must pay, and the dead must have justice! But we also need to learn why they did this. These people..."
His eyes swept over the human shapes in the ruins, and he shook his head. "Someone with such power could hardly have had a feud with ordinary folk like them. Whatever the case, we must hurry. If we can save even one person, we should!" With that, he strode forward without hesitation or fear.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Ahead, waves of heat rolled toward them. Along with the hot wind came wails and screams.
The farther Chen Yi went, the faster he walked and the graver his expression became. Charred ruins gradually gave way to burning houses. He steadied his mind, drew out his grief, anger, and bewilderment, and joined them to the